Alright, HDS has his EU and I have my RotJ. It's on!!!
Plotwise, the Death Star II accomplishes many things. That the hopelessness of beating the Galactic Empire just took another fifty steps in the wrong direction. Not only that, it was a way to bring Luke over to the dark side and have a nice little planet destroying weapon at your disposal.
This next part is taking from the Magic of Myth. A book solely about Star Wars lore, and it's meaning behind it.
p101 Hardback
The Resurgence of Evil
Regeneration is not just the province of the good, however, Evil too has a tendency to rise again. In Greek mythology, this resurgence is symbolized by the monster Hydra, with its doglike body and many snaky heads. Whenever one of these heads is cut off, two new ones spring up in its place. The hero Hercules finally vanquishes the monster with the help of his nephew Iolaus; as Hercules cuts off each of the Hydra's heads, Iolaus applies a blazing branch to the stumps, preventing more heads from growing.
In the Star Wars mythology, the resurgence of evil takes the from of a new Death Star, under construction by the Empire even while the Rebel Alliance has continued to struggle against its tyranny.
Boba Fett dying? Hey, I wasn't really disappointed, Really, until the EU came around, he was basically a bounty hunter that got the jump on the Falcon. Cool as hell, but his reputation wasn't established. Lucas said, in the interview at the beginning of the special editions first release, that he couldn't understand so much devotion, so look forward to a history in the prequels.
Everybody screams commercialism. Possibly. I'll definitely look at that as a high possibility. However, in that interview later on, he said by RotJ Chewbacca was established as a great mechanic and that you could see Wookies were not so primitive. That he loves the concept of primitive versus technology and thus having them overcome the superior. Ewoks, Gungans. I would go so far as to venture this idea. He liked drawing from WWII and historical wars for battle references in Star Wars. They might have been small fuzzy creatures, but then that would fit with a French Indian war. French and Indains versus the British. Sort of fit that template.
Another exerpt from Magic of Myth
p102-105
...Endor is the name of an ancient town that appears in the Old Testament-the abode of a witch or medium whom Saul consults on the eve of the battle of Bilboa. This Endor, too, contains a certain sorcery, for once again the path has led the heroes into the magical forest. There they are confronted by the small furry Ewoks, who like all elves, fairies, and other inhabitants of fariy-tale forests, may be either dangerous or helpful. The Ewoks' lush green environment and harmony with nature make a warm contrast to the austere, cold technology of the Empire. In fact, while in the Ewok village, Leai wears a soft animal-skin dress and lets down her magnificent hair, perhaps reflecting the subtle magic of the Ewoks' connection to the natural world; thier creative powers are shown by the fact that they are the only creatures in the trilogy shown with children.
Lame space battle? Granted the Super Star Destroyer should have been shown wiping out a cruiser in a barage, but then again, it was very intense already.
How do you know that was recycled footage? Even if it was, so what. The X-Wing exploded, how many different ways do you want to see it go up? Let's not make it more spectacular than we have to, so as not to take away from the run.
Now here's one I will definitely have to hunt down. I could have sworn I had a book about it at home, but I can't find it. im afraid it might have been on the internet. The Falcon exploding was supposedly a huge myth. I've even seen images, but these were not real images from earlier footage. I will most certainly be hunting down my source on this one.
In the novelisation I believe Luke calls his sabre to his hand from Vader's belt. He might have rolled it out to him also. That would be cool as hell to see. The sabre fight seemed a little short from this point. Earlier it was just a test of Luke's metle. I personally think the sabre fight in RotJ had far more weight than the other sabre clashes. ESB fight was pretty climatic, but there again it was just Luke rushing headlong into something he was ill prepared for. RotJ he wasn't just fighting for himself, he was fighting for evertyhing and even his father.
I love RotJ. It's my favorite movie of all time. This movie does what I like in a movie. It shows a group of people, doing what it takes to kick the unholy ass out of the bad guys. 'nuff said.